At 6:40 a.m. on Wednesday, a shooter opened fire on an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facility in Dallas. One detainee was killed and two were wounded. No ICE officials were shot. The suspected shooter killed himself as authorities closed in.
Authorities identified the suspect as Joshua Jahn, 29, and said the shots were fired from a nearby roof into an area of the facility used to transport people in and out. Federal Bureau of Investigation director Kash Patel posted a photo of what he said were unspent shell casings with “ANTI-ICE” written on them.
It didn’t take long for the political fight to heat up. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem quickly blamed left-wing rhetoric, writing on X: “These horrendous killings must serve as a wake-up call to the far left that their rhetoric about ICE has consequences. Comparing ICE day in and day out to the Nazi Gestapo, the secret police, and slave patrols has consequences.” When Pod Save America host Jon Favreau questioned Vice President J.D. Vance, he responded, “The gunman had anti-ICE messaging carved on the bullets he used. What, precisely, did I get wrong, dipshit?”
The shooting took place exactly two weeks after America saw Charlie Kirk’s assassination in Utah. To learn more about what happened Wednesday, and how ICE is grappling with its facilities and agents becoming the target of political violence, I spoke with Todd Lyons, ICE’s acting director, on Wednesday evening.
You can read our conversation, lightly edited for clarity, below.
